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We'll get past Trump and his legacy, by Sharon Phennah

It is done. Act II is over. Long the victim of obsessions and impulses, Mr. Trump is undeniably compromised.

The truth is out; The Emperor has no Clothes. Only the denouement remains — how will he exit the world stage, orange jumpsuit or not?

The trail of “if he hadn’t” phrases is long:

If he hadn’t been compelled to sleep with Stormy Daniels, then pay her off;

If he hadn’t been obsessed with money and business with Russian oligarchs, including Putin;

If he hadn’t thought presidential candidacy meant unending fame and opportunities, not considering the consequences of winning;

If he hadn’t thought he could lie and have those lies seconded for all eternity by his coterie of obfuscating loyal cronies;

If he hadn’t underestimated the American justice system …

Slow or swift, America will be shut of a treasonous, double-dealing, damaged president. But America will still be in dangerous hands. The Stepford vice president and the recalcitrant Senate will remain.

The alt-right, carnivorous conservatives, and other wingnuts will set up a hue and cry against anyone and anything using any means from cyber manipulation and thieving to mass shootings and Charlottesville-type riots.

Those honestly harmed and disaffected Americans will be in the same emotional/economic distress, or maybe worse off.

People who voted and protested against Trump’s candidacy will be tired and discouraged, having watched precious American resources, traditions, beliefs and institutions suffer deleterious attacks for more than two years.

Our national financial interests are now tangled with dictators and killers governing Saudi Arabia and Russia instead of our allies of more than 70 years; Canada, the U.K., Japan, and most of the E.U. North Korea threatens as usual.

An understaffed State Department; an EPA run by an anti-environmentalist; other departments in similar disarray; and international distrust must be repaired.

This requires much work, consideration, compromise and law-making to rectify the egregious wrongs done by this president.

Looming largest is climate-change denial. If left untreated, nothing else will matter. Climate change doesn’t require Trump’s understanding, approval or belief, or yours or mine. It exists as gravity, sunshine and dirt exist.

Climate change and governmental disruption must be tended to. Failure will result in a subsistence/survival standard of living reminiscent of the Dark Ages.